Essential pessimistic book thread

[hoping to lose hope]

I thought we could make a book thread for users to peruse (*_*)
Not to be a downer but pessimistic books are usually enjoyed in some sense by people who are open to dying.
I will only add a few titles so others can post books they enjoyed as well.
Please try to give a brief summary explaining why you think the books is worth reading.

Sarah Perry Every cradle is a grave
This book gives a nice look at the pro death argument and is a nice read especially if you do not want a very serious philosophical work.
I will say that the author in my view did make some faulty arguments based on a misunderstanding of a few topics I seem to be more well versed at such as mental health. The author is "based" and not a "normalfag" you will be able to tell she thinks for herself.
but I would recommend it to everyone. Do not be afraid if you are not a book worm it is easy to read.

Thomas Ligotti the conspiracy against the human race
This book is from the mind of a horror author but it is not fiction and it is very scary!
The book is all about living the existential dread and is also written in a fun way whilst still presenting ideas well.
One benefit of this book is you will find a lot of other reading material just by reading it.
It is once again as is Every cradle is a grave: written not in a classical philosophy way but it is a harder read and requires some understanding of some terms.

E M cioran heights of despair
The anti philosopher who never gave any solutions and vented his frustrations at existence in lyrical prose form.
"It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late."
I highly suggest giving this book a read for something fun.

Schopenhauer essays on pessimism
No Sanctioned suicide book list would be complete without reading this gem.
Dislike living? Dislike noise? Dislike woman even?
You will be able to enjoy this without needing to have consumed his other works and understood them although it does help.

All of these books are available online although it is great to support the authors by buying them if you can especially living authors works.
Expect to feel even worse after reading them and having your bad feelings validated.

 

[ecmnesia]

I'd recommend A short story of decay by Emil Cioran as well.

not sure it fits, but i think so. It was my first book of this kind, and so far, my favorite of all genres. it was as if he read my thoughts and wrote it there.

i felt terrible. but validated. so I guess it was worth it.

thanks for the recommendations.

 

[hoping to lose hope]

I'd recommend A short story of decay by Emil Cioran as well.

not sure it fits, but i think so. It was my first book of this kind, and so far, my favorite of all genres. it was as if he read my thoughts and wrote it there.

i felt terrible. but validated. so I guess it was worth it.

thanks for the recommendations.

I like your Avatar VVery much monster is quite the manga!
A part of me regrets encouraging others to read these books because once you realize logic concludes with pessimism you are left spending all your free time creating arguments to try and disprove pessimism. Even finding your own meaning in life presupposes life is meaningless.
I am sure that others who have found the forum are already negative enough though.
Personally I did not enjoy his other books as much but they are quite good!!

 

[Yuki Tenuki]

Seneca, Letter 70:

"[...] Accordingly, the wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can. He will mark in what place, with whom, and how he is to conduct his existence, and what he is about to do. He always reflects concerning the quality, and not the quantity, of his life. As soon as there are many events in his life that give him trouble and disturb his peace of mind, he sets himself free. And this privilege is his, not only when the crisis is upon him, but as soon as Fortune seems to be playing him false; then he looks about carefully and sees whether he ought, or ought not, to end his life on that account. He holds that it makes no difference to him whether his taking-off be natural or self-inflicted, whether it comes later or earlier. He does not regard it with fear, as if it were a great loss; for no man can lose very much when but a driblet remains. It is not a question of dying earlier or later, but of dying well or ill. And dying well means escape from the danger of living ill [...]."

 

[reticen]

All good stuff, though from what I've seen this kind of philosophy is actually rejected by a lot of people here. Well the anti-natalist aspects anyway. So I guess accepting sanctioned suicide doesn't mean accepting pessimist philosophy.

 

[hoping to lose hope]

All good stuff, though from what I've seen this kind of philosophy is actually rejected by a lot of people here. Well the anti-natalist aspects anyway. So I guess accepting sanctioned suicide doesn't mean accepting pessimist philosophy.

Could I ask a favour and get a quick rundown on why that is?
I find that antinatalists can be very cringe when they bitch and moan about people having kids like lolz chill out guys.

 

[onewho]

Seneca, Letter 70:

"[...] Accordingly, the wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can. He will mark in what place, with whom, and how he is to conduct his existence, and what he is about to do. He always reflects concerning the quality, and not the quantity, of his life. As soon as there are many events in his life that give him trouble and disturb his peace of mind, he sets himself free. And this privilege is his, not only when the crisis is upon him, but as soon as Fortune seems to be playing him false; then he looks about carefully and sees whether he ought, or ought not, to end his life on that account. He holds that it makes no difference to him whether his taking-off be natural or self-inflicted, whether it comes later or earlier. He does not regard it with fear, as if it were a great loss; for no man can lose very much when but a driblet remains. It is not a question of dying earlier or later, but of dying well or ill. And dying well means escape from the danger of living ill [...]."

Here's a whole book I really recommend with his essays & letters on death & sui:

https://libgen.rs/search.php?req=Seneca+how+to+die

 

[zengiraffe]

I know you already mentioned this, but I also highly recommend The Conspiracy Against The Human Race by Thomas Ligotti. The writing is phenomenal, and the book is unapologetically pessimistic from start to finish. I have it on audible and have listened through the entire thing at least 10 times now.

I've tried to find other pessimistic works but nothing holds a candle to Ligotti's book. It's truly in class of its own. Schopenhauer's Studies in Pessimism is too short and the essay on women is very cringe by modern standards. I find Cioran's work kinda hard to digest, the writing style is very flowery and dated. David Benatar's books are okay, but I believe he is anti-natalist and doesn't comment on the subject of suicide, other than to say anti-natalism and pro-life/anti-suicide are not incompatible positions.

 

[Socrates Respecter]

I believe he is anti-natalist and doesn't comment on the subject of suicide, other than to say anti-natalism and pro-life/anti-suicide are not incompatible positions.

He actually has a whole chapter on Suicide in his The Human Predicament. Highly recommend this book, it's a rigorous defense of philosophical pessimism

 

[persimmon]

Good thread. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy is deeply pessimistic about human nature (and a phenomenal read).

 

[GreyCTB]

"Industrial Society and Its Future" Ted Kaczynski. It is impossible to describe in words why one should read this book without doing it injustice, one has to see it for himself.

The first two paragraphs:
"1. The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. They have greatly increased the life expectancy of those of us who live in "advanced" countries, but they have destabilized society, have made life unfulfilling, have subjected human beings to indignities, have led to widespread psychological suffering (in the Third World to physical suffering as well) and have inflicted severe damage on the natural world. The continued development of technology will worsen the situation. It will certainly subject human beings to greater indignities and inflict greater damage on the natural world, it will probably lead to greater social disruption and psychological suffering, and it may lead to increased physical suffering even in "advanced" countries.
2. The industrial-technological system may survive or it may break down. If it survives, it MAY eventually achieve a low level of physical and psychological suffering, but only after passing through a long and very painful period of adjustment and only at the cost of permanently reducing human beings and many other living organisms to engineered products and mere cogs in the social machine. Furthermore, if the system survives, the consequences will be inevitable: There is no way of reforming or modifying the system so as to prevent it from depriving people of dignity and autonomy."

 

[Ferdinand Bardamu]

Pessoa. All of it.

 

[vadim]

The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and in Peoples by Miguel de Unamuno. Infinite Resignation by Eugene Thacker (only work by him I've read besides his introduction to On the Suffering of the World by Schopenhauer). Weltschmerz: Pessimism in German Philosophy, 1860–1900 by Frederick C. Beiser is a good overview.

Two pessimists that I am interested in reading, Peter Wessel Zapffe and Philipp Mainländer, haven't been officially translated >:(